These data identify an ER-stress-ferroptosis pathway as a driver of EV71 neurotoxicity and demonstrate that repurposed 4-PBA interrupts this cascade to confer functional neuroprotection in vivo and in neuronal cells. To our knowledge, this provides the first in vivo evidence that pharmacologic relief of ER stress can inhibit ferroptosis to ameliorate EV71 encephalitis, highlighting a translational strategy for neurotropic viral disease.
He et al. (Fri,) studied this question.